Hey all,
This is my first post though I've been on here lurking for a long time. I absolutely love pool and watch as much as I possibly can online with live streams or on youtube. I even love watching BB but don't hold it against me.
I am 35 with a wife and 11 month old so I am luckily enough get 1 night a week to shoot pool. I'm an SL6 in APA 8 ball and a division rep for my small 10 team division up here in New Hampshire. I captain a really fun team of family and friends. We've had our fair share of success in APA going to Vegas in 2011 and 2012 for the team events. We cashed out in 129th place the 2nd year after going 2 and out the first trip. I still say that first time walking into the empty tourney room at the Riv at 3am and seeing the 200+ tables all lined up and ready to go was as close to a religous moment I've ever had. I cannot shake that feeling. OK enough about me...
Our division, as a whole, is comtemplating making a switch in Leagues. As in all 10 teams jump ship at the end of the session (which just so happens to be in a couple weeks!) For the switch it is looking as though we have narrowed it down to two options. USAPL or UPA.
We have just recently had a new USAPL operator show up at our league night with tales of $7/week and no membership fees all while sending a team to nationals direct from the division all expenses paid. Obviously USAPL has great backing as a whole with CSI / BCA. That is a big plus, but no one from our league knows the LO from a hole in the wall.
Our local UPA area has been purchased by a Captain of one of our own teams. He has a different divison running in an area about an hour away and seems very optimistic about the future of the UPA and obviously has a vested interest. He has mentioned $10/week with a membership fee of $25/year. I'm told that with the extra money per week, the division would be able to send 2 teams to Nationals, all expenses paid.
I haven't seen too much chatter on here about the UPA and am just looking to get some different opinions of either of the two leagues especially regarding handicaps/scoring and Nationals etc... I don't know how I feel about playing 8 ball with a ball count vs playing a race but I will reserve judgement until I actually play it. I guess my biggest worry is that either of the two leagues makes it less fun for the lower player that we end up losing a team or two and that messes up the total money needed to do the things that both leagues are hoping to do.
Sorry for the novel but I look forward hearing from those that took the time to read through.
Thanks, Rusty
This is my first post though I've been on here lurking for a long time. I absolutely love pool and watch as much as I possibly can online with live streams or on youtube. I even love watching BB but don't hold it against me.
I am 35 with a wife and 11 month old so I am luckily enough get 1 night a week to shoot pool. I'm an SL6 in APA 8 ball and a division rep for my small 10 team division up here in New Hampshire. I captain a really fun team of family and friends. We've had our fair share of success in APA going to Vegas in 2011 and 2012 for the team events. We cashed out in 129th place the 2nd year after going 2 and out the first trip. I still say that first time walking into the empty tourney room at the Riv at 3am and seeing the 200+ tables all lined up and ready to go was as close to a religous moment I've ever had. I cannot shake that feeling. OK enough about me...Our division, as a whole, is comtemplating making a switch in Leagues. As in all 10 teams jump ship at the end of the session (which just so happens to be in a couple weeks!) For the switch it is looking as though we have narrowed it down to two options. USAPL or UPA.
We have just recently had a new USAPL operator show up at our league night with tales of $7/week and no membership fees all while sending a team to nationals direct from the division all expenses paid. Obviously USAPL has great backing as a whole with CSI / BCA. That is a big plus, but no one from our league knows the LO from a hole in the wall.
Our local UPA area has been purchased by a Captain of one of our own teams. He has a different divison running in an area about an hour away and seems very optimistic about the future of the UPA and obviously has a vested interest. He has mentioned $10/week with a membership fee of $25/year. I'm told that with the extra money per week, the division would be able to send 2 teams to Nationals, all expenses paid.
I haven't seen too much chatter on here about the UPA and am just looking to get some different opinions of either of the two leagues especially regarding handicaps/scoring and Nationals etc... I don't know how I feel about playing 8 ball with a ball count vs playing a race but I will reserve judgement until I actually play it. I guess my biggest worry is that either of the two leagues makes it less fun for the lower player that we end up losing a team or two and that messes up the total money needed to do the things that both leagues are hoping to do.
Sorry for the novel but I look forward hearing from those that took the time to read through.
Thanks, Rusty
